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The I ndian grandmaster, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, got the better of his fellow countryman Vidit Gujrathi in the third round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament at the Great Hall in Toronto. With this brilliant result, the 18-year-old jumped up to fourth place in the tournament standings, joining Vidit Gujrathi with 1.5 points to his name.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Vidit Gujrathi are known to play fiery chess on the board against each other, and it wasn’t any different in the third round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament. Praggnanandhaa used the Deferred Schliemann, pushing his F pawn forward early, shaking up the Ruy Lopez into gambit territory against Gujrathi.
The decision from Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa to utilise his extended preparation in Ruy Lopez paid off handsomely when he gained 40-minute advantage on Vidit Gujrathi after equalising the position. When Praggnanandhaa managed to take his G pawn into the enemy kingside, Gujrathi struggled with time pressure before succumbing to it.
All the other matches of the third round of the Candidates Chess 2024 tournament, including Dommaraju Gukesh versus Ian Nepomniachtchi, Fabiano Caruana versus Alireza Firouzja, and Nijat Abasov versus Hikaru Nakamura, ended in draws. Due to these results, Gukesh, Nepomniachtchi, and Caruana stayed tied in first place in the tournament with two points each.